Carib Scope

分类： health

  • Su Aid wil ruim SRD 9 miljoen ophalen voor kinderzorg ‘s Lands Hospitaal

    Su Aid wil ruim SRD 9 miljoen ophalen voor kinderzorg ‘s Lands Hospitaal

    On October 31, a formal partnership signing ceremony was held between representatives of Suriname-based non-profit foundation Su Aid and the leadership of ‘s Lands Hospitaal, the country’s leading public tertiary care facility, marking the official public launch of a targeted 2024 fundraising drive. The signed agreement, witnessed by local media outlet Sunweb TV, formalizes Su Aid’s commitment to mobilize more than SRD 9 million (equivalent to roughly US$243,000, adjusted for fluctuating local currency exchange rates) by the end of the year to procure life-saving medical devices for the hospital’s specialized pediatric and newborn care departments.

    The critical equipment earmarked for purchase includes high-priority patient monitoring systems and pediatric-grade respiratory support ventilators that the hospital has identified as urgent unmet needs, which it cannot fund using its existing operational budget. Hospital administrators note that while ‘s Lands Hospitaal has made steady, meaningful progress in recent years upgrading its pediatric care standards and expanding access to specialized child health services, gaps in core medical hardware continue to limit the quality and scope of care it can deliver to vulnerable young patients.

    The total funding target breaks down to US$187,000 allocated specifically for upgrades to the hospital’s Neonatal High Care Unit, and the remaining US$56,000 dedicated to expanding resources for its outpatient pediatric clinic. Both Su Aid and hospital leadership acknowledge that raising the full sum presents a significant operational challenge, but they draw encouragement from a long track record of widespread public support for the foundation’s previous community health fundraising initiatives.

    Su Aid Chairman Giwani Zeggen emphasized that even small individual contributions can add up to transformative impact for the hospital’s young patients. “There is no absolute guarantee we will hit the full SRD 9 million target, but this goal is entirely within our reach as a community,” Zeggen explained. “We have 600,000 residents across the country. If every person gives an average of SRD 10, we raise SRD 6 million immediately. If people can contribute SRD 20 each, we will far exceed our target. This success does not depend on a handful of large donors, it depends on all of us giving what we can spare.”

    ‘s Lands Hospitaal Medical Director Soenita Nannan Panday-Gopisingh also made a direct public appeal to Suriname’s residents to rally behind the campaign, framing the investment as a long-term gift to the nation’s future generations. “Do this for the smallest members of our community,” she urged. “One of these newborns we care for today could one day grow up to lead our country. Years from now, that child will be able to share the story of surviving a critical health challenge here at ‘s Lands Hospitaal, supported by our team of skilled specialists and the life-saving tools this community helped us buy. Every contribution to this project is an investment in the health and potential of our nation’s children.”

    The campaign’s core stated goal is to fully close the hospital’s equipment gaps to drastically reduce preventable mortality and complication rates for newborns and pediatric patients, and raise the standard of specialized child care available to all families across Suriname.

  • Ophthalmologists warn that the reduction in natural light during winter impacts eyesight.

    Ophthalmologists warn that the reduction in natural light during winter impacts eyesight.

    As autumn transitions into winter across the Northern Hemisphere, steadily shrinking daily sunlight hours do more than disrupt established daily routines and throw natural circadian rhythms out of balance: they carry underrecognized, pervasive impacts on long-term ocular health, according to leading eye care specialists. A team of ophthalmologists from the Ophthalmology Service at Barcelona’s Dexeus University Hospital has issued a timely public advisory outlining how dwindling natural light exposure erodes overall visual function, while significantly accelerating the onset and progression of childhood myopia, a public health concern that has reached epidemic proportions in many global regions in recent decades.
    The mechanisms by which insufficient sunlight impairs visual performance operate on both optical and neurological levels, eroding core visual capacities including contrast sensitivity, image sharpness, and the ability to maintain steady focus in low-light settings. A growing body of peer-reviewed global research has now confirmed that unfiltered direct sunlight exposure acts as an irreplaceable protective barrier against the advancement of myopia, particularly during the critical developmental windows of childhood and adolescence.
    A landmark three-year clinical trial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, conducted by researchers at the Zhongshan Ophthalmological Center of Sun Yat-sen University, tracked 1,903 students across 12 primary schools in Guangzhou, China, to measure the impact of a simple intervention: adding just 40 minutes of structured outdoor activity to the end of each school day. The study’s final data showed that the student group with the extra outdoor time saw their 3-year myopia incidence rate drop from 39.5% to 30.4%, representing a nearly 23% relative reduction in myopia risk, alongside far slower increases in required corrective lens prescriptions compared to their peers with no modified outdoor activity schedules.
    Drawing on this evidence, Dr. Carles Barnés, director of OftalDex at Dexeus University Hospital’s Ophthalmology Service, emphasizes that children should aim for a minimum of 60 minutes of unstructured outdoor play each day, prioritizing open-air activities over extended indoor sessions focused on screens, video games, or close-range sedentary tasks.
    Specialists also break down the core physiological processes that cause vision to degrade in low-light winter conditions. First, the eye automatically triggers mydriasis, or pupil dilation, to capture as much available ambient light as possible. When the pupil expands, incoming light passes through the peripheral edges of the cornea and lens, amplifying the eye’s inherent structural imperfections, increasing light scattering, reducing depth of field, and causing noticeable far-distance blurred vision. This is compounded by the well-documented phenomenon of night myopia, where the visual system involuntarily shifts to short-distance focus due to a lack of clear distant visual reference points, worsening acuity for people already living with myopia. Finally, the eye switches from using cone cells, the retinal photoreceptors that process color and high-resolution detail, to rod cells optimized for low-light performance, which have far lower spatial resolution, leading to a sharp drop in contrast sensitivity that makes distinguishing dark shapes against dim backgrounds far more difficult.
    As these low-light effects combine with unaddressed or poorly corrected refractive errors, people often experience a range of disruptive, quality-of-life impairing symptoms: painful glare from indoor artificial light, distorted halos or flashing geometric artifacts around streetlights and oncoming car headlights, severe visual fatigue during night driving, and drastically slowed adaptation to sudden shifts between bright and dark spaces. For school-aged children, red flags that demand immediate professional assessment include consistent difficulty reading classroom blackboards, frequent squinting to make out distant objects, and persistent eye redness, itching or pain, all of which can signal unaddressed myopia or other developing ocular conditions.
    Experts stress that winter’s shorter daylight does not have to lead to inevitable declines in eye health. Simple, proactive daily habits can effectively offset low-light risks: prioritizing consistent daily natural light exposure, avoiding extended screen use in completely dark rooms, and installing appropriately bright, glare-free artificial lighting in home, classroom and workspaces to reduce unnecessary eye strain. Anyone experiencing persistent unusual visual symptoms should schedule a full comprehensive ophthalmological examination to identify and address concerns before they progress to long-term complications.

  • Primary Eye Care Unit Softly Opens at Gray’s Green Community Centre as Health Minister Outlines Vision for Dedicated Eye Hospital

    Primary Eye Care Unit Softly Opens at Gray’s Green Community Centre as Health Minister Outlines Vision for Dedicated Eye Hospital

    Antigua and Barbuda’s Ministry of Health, Wellness, Environment and Civil Service Affairs formally hosted the soft launch of the nation’s inaugural Primary Eye Care Unit at the Gray’s Green Community Centre, marking a pivotal milestone in the Caribbean nation’s long-term strategy to embed accessible, community-centered eye health services within its public primary healthcare framework.
    Although the facility has completed its ceremonial soft opening, it is not yet open to the general public. Ministry officials are finalizing a suite of pre-launch operational preparations, including the deployment of specialized diagnostic equipment, completion of final workflow testing, and logistical alignment to ensure the unit can deliver safe, standardized, high-quality eye care services when it goes fully live, with a public operational target set for January 2027.
    Honourable Michael Joseph, the sitting minister for the health portfolio, emphasized that the new community-focused model of care would fundamentally shift the country’s capacity to catch visual impairments at their earliest stages, rather than forcing residents to travel long distances to centralized urban medical facilities for routine screenings. “By bringing vision assessments, targeted screening, and professional eye care directly into neighbourhoods, we can drastically cut rates of avoidable vision loss, and intervene before unaddressed eye conditions escalate into permanent, irreversible blindness,” Minister Joseph noted during the launch event.
    The Gray’s Green site is the first of a planned national network of identical Primary Eye Care Units, which will be rolled out across all populated districts of Antigua and Barbuda in the coming years to extend equitable eye health coverage to even the most remote communities. Minister Joseph also outlined an ambitious longer-term roadmap for the sector, revealing that the national government is laying groundwork to build the country’s first standalone, dedicated specialist eye hospital within the next five years.
    The launch ceremony also served as a homecoming celebration for four Antiguan and Barbudan registered nurses, who recently returned to the islands after completing an intensive, advanced specialized training program in eye care delivered in India. Their newly acquired clinical skills will form the core of the local workforce that will operate the new community units, building long-term domestic capacity rather than relying on external short-term medical staffing.
    Senior public health official Permanent Secretary Mrs. Stacey Gregg framed the launch as a transformative leap forward for national healthcare accessibility, noting that it would remove longstanding barriers that prevented low-income and geographically isolated residents from accessing routine eye care. Ambassador Aubrey Webson, a visually impaired diplomat and the original architect of the national eye care expansion program who was honoured at the event for his years of advocacy to advance the initiative, stated that the project represents tangible, actionable progress toward the national target of making Antigua and Barbuda one of the world’s first nations entirely free of preventable blindness.
    Ms. K-T Overbey, Chief Executive Officer of the Cure Blindness Project, one of the core international partners backing the scheme, reaffirmed her organization’s full commitment to supporting the successful rollout of the full network of units. The cross-sector initiative is being delivered via a formal collaborative framework that unites the Antiguan government with global eye health partners including the Cure Blindness Project, RestoringVision, VisionSpring, and the Lavelle Fund for the Blind.
    The full network of Primary Eye Care Units is designed to deliver a seamless continuum of care, covering community-based vision screening, comprehensive diagnostic assessment, streamlined referrals for specialist treatment, and structured long-term follow-up for patients living with chronic eye conditions. Under the associated Prime Ministerial Vision Initiative, Antigua and Barbuda has also secured a donation of 25,000 pairs of reading glasses from RestoringVision, specifically to address the widespread public health issue of presbyopia, the common age-related loss of near vision that affects millions of adults globally. This donation complements the clinical services offered at the new units, ensuring that patients identified with uncomplicated near-vision impairment can access appropriate aids immediately without additional cost or delay. Ministry leadership confirmed that they will continue to deepen partnerships with all local and international stakeholders to expand service coverage, upskill more local clinical staff, and steadily advance the national strategic goal of eliminating all preventable cases of blindness across the twin-island nation.

  • Antigua and Barbuda partners with Orbis to launch AI eye screening for diabetes patients in 2027

    Antigua and Barbuda partners with Orbis to launch AI eye screening for diabetes patients in 2027

    Leading global eye care nonprofit Orbis International has unveiled a landmark four-year, $32 million combined financial and technical investment roadmap spanning 2027 to 2030, designed to fortify under-resourced national eye health systems and democratize access to high-quality vision care for marginalized populations worldwide. The transformative pledge, announced in conjunction with the inaugural Global Summit for Eye Health hosted by Antigua and Barbuda in technical partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), is projected to deliver measurable improvements in eye health outcomes for over 18 million individuals, while upskilling more than 250,000 frontline eye health professionals across 200+ countries and territories.

    The high-profile summit convenes cross-sector stakeholders including heads of state, public health agencies, private industry leaders, civil society organizations, and global philanthropic funders to align collective action toward eliminating preventable vision loss that currently impacts 1 billion people globally. Orbis has formally endorsed the landmark St. John’s Global Compact for Eye Health, a multi-stakeholder framework that sets binding shared targets for coordinated action, sustained investment, and transparent accountability to close global eye care gaps. The organization’s newly announced operational commitments translate that formal endorsement into tangible, community-centered programming focused on three interconnected priority pillars: targeted workforce development, equitable high-quality cataract care, and ethically governed integration of digital and artificial intelligence tools into routine clinical services.

    “Historically, ambitious global eye health pledges have too often remained confined to policy documents, but this summit creates a tangible platform to turn shared aspirations into on-the-ground, lasting impact,” stated Kathleen Sherwin, President and CEO of Orbis International. “By pooling our specialized expertise and dedicated resources, we will support national governments to build the resilient, locally led workforce and integrated health systems required to deliver permanent, equitable improvements in eye health. In all our work, we will prioritize the groups that are systematically excluded from care: women, girls, geographically isolated communities, and other underserved populations that bear a disproportionate burden of preventable vision loss.”

    Rooted in the core principle that sustainable, long-term progress in eye health cannot rely on short-term external interventions, Orbis’s strategy centers on building local national capacity: ensuring every country has the trained personnel, clinical infrastructure, and operational systems to deliver quality eye care independently long after individual external program cycles conclude. The organization will execute this work in close, collaborative partnership with national ministries of health, WHO, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), grassroots civil society groups, professional eye care associations, and responsible private sector partners, centering country-defined priorities and community-led solutions at every stage of implementation.

    The first core pillar of the commitment addresses the single largest systemic barrier to universal eye care: the global shortage of skilled, certified eye health workers. By 2030, Orbis will deliver structured, ongoing professional development for 250,000 eye care professionals globally, with heavy reliance on Cybersight, the world’s most widely adopted digital eye health platform that unites remote learning, one-on-one clinical mentorship, AI-powered diagnostic support, and real-time telehealth consultation to strengthen health systems at unprecedented scale. Orbis will maintain completely free public access to Cybersight through 2030, a contribution valued at $15 million over the four-year period, and will make the platform’s full suite of capabilities available to power IAPB’s global network of training and professional development initiatives.

    “We are facing an unrecognized global public health crisis in eye care: a catastrophic gap in trained personnel to treat and stop the preventable conditions that cause irreversible blindness,” explained Hunter Cherwek, Chief Medical Officer at Orbis International. “As populations age and the prevalence of sight-threatening conditions rises at an unprecedented rate, demand for skilled eye health providers is surging faster than most national health systems can keep up. These targeted commitments directly support governments to scale their domestic workforce, and Cybersight eliminates geographic barriers to deliver world-class training to providers no matter how remote their practice setting is.”

    The second priority pillar allocates $17 million in combined funding and technical support to expand access to high-quality cataract care, the single leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide. Timely, properly performed cataract surgery can fully restore vision for affected patients, but millions of people in low- and middle-income countries still lack access to safe, affordable procedures. Orbis’s targeted investment will strengthen workforce capacity, standardize surgical quality protocols, build long-term institutional clinical capacity, and scale equitable access to cataract services, directly advancing WHO’s 2030 global cataract elimination targets and the broader SEE 2045 global initiative to end avoidable blindness. In partnership with global eye health leader Alcon, Orbis will deliver comprehensive cataract training that blends hands-on clinical placement, interactive digital learning, structured mentorship, and state-of-the-art surgical simulation tools to build provider competence and confidence.

    “The chasm between what modern eye care technology can deliver and what marginalized patients can actually access is one of the most urgent unaddressed public health challenges of our era,” noted David J. Endicott, Chief Executive Officer of Alcon. “Closing that gap cannot be achieved by any single organization: it requires coordinated cross-sector collaboration, sustained targeted investment, and a shared commitment to building the local workforce and clinical infrastructure needed to bring quality eye care to every community, no matter their income or location.”

    The third innovative pillar of Orbis’s 2027-2030 strategy focuses on the responsible, ethical integration of artificial intelligence tools into routine primary care, kicking off with a pioneering partnership with the Government of Antigua and Barbuda to embed AI-assisted diabetic retinopathy screening into national routine diabetes care pathways, aligned with the Prime Minister’s Vision Initiative. The joint project aims to achieve 80% screening coverage for all patients accessing national diabetes care services by 2030, with fully connected, seamless referral, diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing follow-up pathways for patients identified with sight-threatening retinal complications. Orbis will also systematically collect real-world evidence and share actionable implementation lessons from the Antigua and Barbuda program to guide the responsible, ethical adoption and safe scaling of similar AI-integrated eye care models across other national health systems worldwide.

    “Antigua and Barbuda is immensely proud to deepen our longstanding partnership with Orbis International to build an eye care system that is universally accessible, equitable, and sustainable for every citizen,” stated Walton Webson, Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations. “This collaborative effort launching in 2027 will advance AI-powered diabetic retinopathy screening, strengthen local clinical capacity, and dramatically expand early detection of preventable vision loss. With additional support from our global partners, we will design a comprehensive, adaptable eye care model that can be replicated across the Caribbean and other Small Island Developing States. Our ambition is unambiguous: to protect sight, expand economic and social opportunity for all our people, and prove that small island nations can lead the world in inclusive, people-centered health innovation. No one should lose their sight, or their chance to build a thriving future, to a condition we already have the tools to prevent or treat.”

    Across all 16 direct partner countries, Orbis will deliver targeted hands-on support to strengthen government-led health institutions, while Cybersight will continue to deliver free learning and clinical support to users in over 200 countries and territories. The full 2027-2030 workplan covers priority clinical areas including cataract treatment, diabetic retinopathy screening and care, childhood eye health services, and refractive error correction, with intentional outreach to ensure historically excluded communities are not left behind. For over 40 years, Orbis has delivered sight-saving care and training through its iconic Flying Eye Hospital, a fully equipped teaching hospital housed in a converted aircraft that brings world-class clinical expertise to the world’s most remote communities. Today, the organization combines that on-the-ground clinical work with cutting-edge digital innovation and cross-sector partnerships to deliver on its core mission: to eliminate the 90% of global vision loss that is fully preventable with timely, accessible care.

  • St. Joseph Home Opens for Terminally Ill

    St. Joseph Home Opens for Terminally Ill

    On October 30, 2026, the Belize Palliative Care and Hospice Association formally inaugurated and blessed St. Joseph Home, a groundbreaking six-bed specialized hospice facility in Belize City designed to deliver completely free end-of-life care to terminally ill residents who lack the financial means, family support, or access to basic medical services to spend their final days with dignity.
    Led by association director and Jesuit palliative care specialist Father Frederico Gianelli, the initiative grew from humble volunteer roots: after Gianelli returned to Belize in 2023, the group launched home visit programs for vulnerable patients, expanded to form dedicated in-home care teams and a dedicated palliative care pharmacy, and eventually secured the permanent physical facility via a generous donation from a local parishioner. Over its three years of community operations prior to the home’s opening, the program has already supported more than 100 terminally ill people across the country.
    Gianelli emphasized that the core mission of the facility is to counter the widespread reality of isolated, painful deaths among Belize’s most marginalized populations, noting that every person deserves to pass surrounded by compassionate support rather than suffering alone. Unlike traditional medical teams that only manage physical symptoms, St. Joseph Home delivers fully holistic care that addresses three interconnected pillars: physical pain management, emotional support for both patients and their loved ones, and targeted spiritual care, which global palliative care research identifies as a critical unmet need that otherwise drives excess suffering, overuse of pain medications, and unnecessary extended hospital stays.
    Association chair Ava Pennil clarified that the facility is exclusively reserved for the country’s most disadvantaged terminally ill people: those who have no family home to return to, and who would otherwise be abandoned in informal, unsafe makeshift housing with no consistent care, a harsh reality that impacts a large overlooked segment of Belize’s vulnerable population. The program operates via formal cross-sector partnerships with the Belize Ministry of Health, Ministry of Human Development, National Health Insurance, the Society of Jesus, and the University of Belize. Beyond delivering free end-of-life services, St. Joseph Home will function as a teaching hub, hosting nursing, social work, and pharmacy student interns to train the next generation of local care providers in compassionate, dignified palliative support. Pennil noted that final operational preparations are underway, with the facility on track to start accepting its first patients as early as December 2026, with a formal full launch targeted for January 2027.

  • Onderzoek: Surinaamse drinkwaterbronnen vragen om aangepaste zuivering

    Onderzoek: Surinaamse drinkwaterbronnen vragen om aangepaste zuivering

    A recently unveiled master’s research project from the Anton de Kom University of Suriname (AdeKUS) has uncovered unrecognized chemical characteristics of the country’s groundwater sources that call for customized drinking water treatment strategies, rather than the one-size-fits-all approaches often applied globally. Conducted by chemical science graduate researcher Ritesh Gayadin as part of his postgraduate work through AdeKUS’s Interfaculty Graduate Studies and Research department, the two-year study analyzed conditions across seven active drinking water production sites nationwide, with a specific focus on tracking the formation and mitigation of harmful byproducts generated during standard chlorine disinfection processes.
    Chlorine is a longstanding, widely adopted water treatment tool used to eliminate waterborne pathogens that cause life-threatening illnesses, but its interaction with naturally occurring organic compounds and bromide in source water can produce unintended disinfection byproducts, most notably a group of compounds called trihalomethanes (THMs). Long-term exposure to elevated THM levels has been linked to potential adverse health outcomes, prompting global public health bodies including the World Health Organization (WHO) to enforce strict concentration limits for the compounds in distributed drinking water.
    One of the study’s most surprising findings defied a long-held global assumption in water management: groundwater reserves in Suriname’s coastal plain recorded total organic carbon (TOC) levels between 16 and 20 milligrams per liter, far higher than the concentrations typically found in local surface water sources. This runs counter to the standard industry premise that surface water almost always carries higher loads of natural organic material than sealed groundwater aquifers. At the La Liberté (PSLB) production site, researchers also detected a bromide concentration of 3.56 milligrams per liter, a level high enough to shift the profile of generated THMs toward more toxic brominated variants.
    Crucially, all THM levels measured across the seven monitored sites remained well below WHO’s official safety thresholds, meaning no drinking water supplied from these locations currently poses an immediate public health risk. Even so, Gayadin’s team emphasizes that the unusual chemical profile of Suriname’s groundwater creates latent risk of future byproduct buildup if treatment systems are not adjusted to match local source water traits. To address this gap, the research team designed and successfully tested a pilot-scale granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration system that, with just 15 minutes of contact time, removed up to 70% of the organic precursor compounds that react with chlorine to form THMs. The study recommends scaling up the design using parallel modular filter units, which can be calibrated individually to match the unique chemical composition of each local water source.
    Gayadin formally defended his thesis, titled *Assessment and Design Strategies for the Removal of Chlorine Disinfection By-Products in Surinamese Drinking Water Treatment Systems*, on September 25, 2026. The full set of research findings has been compiled into a peer-reviewed manuscript submitted to an Elsevier-run international scientific journal for formal publication, with the goal of making the tailored water treatment framework accessible to other tropical nations facing similarly unusual groundwater chemistry profiles.

  • Barbados meets global HIV targets

    Barbados meets global HIV targets

    During an official recognition ceremony hosted by the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) and Barbados’ Ministry of Health and Wellness at the Sandals Royal Ballroom in Maxwell, Christ Church, Senior Medical Officer of Health and national HIV/STI Programme Manager Dr. Dale Babb announced on Friday that the island nation has formally eliminated mother-to-child HIV transmission as a public health concern, following more than three decades of coordinated cross-sector effort. Data reviewed for the validation period between 2022 and 2024, which covered 6,352 recorded live births across Barbados, confirmed zero new pediatric HIV infections linked to perinatal transmission, marking a historic public health milestone. As deputy chair of the National Validation Committee, Dr. Babb emphasized that the hard-won certification was the product of unwavering collective dedication, sustained institutional investment, and widespread national resolve spanning generations of public health workers. She confirmed Barbados has met every global benchmark set by WHO for elimination of vertical HIV transmission: a perinatal transmission rate below 2%, an overall perinatal HIV incidence of less than 0.5 cases per 1,000 live births, and coverage rates exceeding 95% for antenatal care, routine HIV screening for pregnant people, and life-saving antiretroviral treatment for expectant mothers living with HIV. Dr. Babb highlighted that Barbados ranked among the first Caribbean nations to roll out the antiretroviral drug AZT (zidovudine) for HIV-positive pregnant women, launching its formal prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) program in 1995, shortly after global clinical research confirmed the medication could drastically cut vertical transmission risk. That initial intervention alone drove transmission rates down from a staggering 27% to 5.5%, with further steep declines following the introduction of a second complementary prophylactic drug to pair with AZT. Routine HIV testing uptake among pregnant women also skyrocketed from just 40% in 1993 to 89% by 2004, and has now reached a 98% coverage rate as of 2025. Dr. Babb took time during the ceremony to honor key trailblazers whose decades of work laid the foundation for the victory: Professor Anne St. John, who led campaigns to boost treatment access and medication adherence for HIV-positive pregnant women; Professor Timothy Roach, who first responded to Barbados’ initial recorded AIDS diagnoses all the way back in 1984; and Dr. Anton Best, who steered the national HIV/STI Programme from 2007 through 2021. Delivering opening remarks at the event, Minister of Health and Wellness Senator Lisa Cummins framed the milestone as the culmination of decades of deliberate, patient-focused work, and stressed that certification would not mark the end of Barbados’ PMTCT efforts. She reaffirmed the national government’s ongoing commitment to prioritizing maternal and child health, embedding sustainable support for related services across policy frameworks, operational workflows, and long-term public health infrastructure rather than treating the certification as a one-off ceremonial endpoint. Dr. Eva Jané Llopis, PAHO/WHO Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, noted that the achievement came after years of navigating early, daunting barriers in the national HIV response, when widespread social stigma and public fear surrounding the virus posed nearly as great a public health challenge as the pathogen itself. She emphasized that the universal scope of Barbados’ PMTCT protections means every child born on the island, regardless of whether they are delivered at the public Queen Elizabeth Hospital or a private medical facility, and regardless of whether their mother accessed care through a public polyclinic or private obstetric provider, is shielded from preventable perinatal HIV exposure. Prime Minister Mia Mottley framed the certification as a tangible demonstration of what Barbados can deliver when it centers public well-being ahead of commercial and market-driven priorities. She recalled a historic ministerial statement tabled by then-colleague Elizabeth Thompson, which formalized the government’s public commitment to eliminating vertical HIV transmission, backed by full funding for antiretroviral treatment for pregnant women secured by the concurrent prime minister and finance minister at a time when even high-burden nations such as South Africa had not yet adopted comparable policy commitments. “This is a clear example of why we must keep people at the very center of our national development,” Mottley told attendees, noting that countless Barbadian children and adults today who are living full, productive lives would have faced preventable HIV infection if the country had not acted decisively to implement its PMTCT strategy decades earlier. “Success does not always appear as something we can see and touch in the immediate term, but its ripple effects last for generations,” she added.

  • Barbados eliminates mother-to-child transmission of HIV

    Barbados eliminates mother-to-child transmission of HIV

    The World Health Organization has formally granted Barbados official recognition for eradicating mother-to-child transmission of HIV as a public health concern, capping decades of targeted, sustained public health action to ensure no newborn in the Caribbean nation contracts the virus from their parent. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the milestone as a tangible demonstration of universal health coverage in action, noting that Barbados’ policy of offering free, rights-respecting, privacy-centered antenatal HIV services to all pregnant people, no matter their immigration or nationality status, has successfully shielded an entire generation of local children from HIV infection. He also emphasized that with 15 total nations and territories across the Americas now holding this elimination status, the region stands as a global trailblazer in ending vertical HIV transmission. The official WHO certification followed a rigorous independent third-party evaluation that verified Barbados had fully met all global benchmarks for eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmission. Official surveillance data confirms that between 2022 and 2024, zero new infant HIV cases linked to mother-to-child transmission were recorded across the country. The review also documented near-universal coverage of critical maternal health interventions over that three-year window: 98% of all pregnant people accessed formal antenatal care, 98% received routine HIV testing, and 98% of pregnant people living with HIV were prescribed and received life-saving antiretroviral therapy to prevent viral transmission to their fetus. Dr Jarbas Barbosa, Director of the Pan American Health Organization and WHO Regional Director for the Americas, noted that Barbados’ success dismantles the myth that ending vertical HIV transmission is an unattainable goal, proving that barrier-free access to high-quality maternal care for women and children delivers transformative public health outcomes. The achievement places Barbados in an exclusive global cohort of 26 countries and territories that have earned WHO validation for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, or hepatitis B, or are on track to hit those targets. For Barbados Minister of Health and Wellness Lisa Cummins, the certification represents a life-altering shift for local communities: it removes the lingering fear that an HIV diagnosis during pregnancy will lead to a child inheriting the virus, supports people living with HIV to pursue safe, healthy pregnancies, and paves the way for a far healthier overall national population. The historic milestone was made possible through years of coordinated partnership between the Barbadian government, PAHO/WHO, civil society groups, and global health agencies to expand HIV service access, strengthen disease surveillance systems, and raise standards of care across all maternal health settings. Regional health partners have lined up to celebrate the breakthrough. Robert Benes, Regional Director of UNICEF for Latin America and the Caribbean, pointed out that the elimination milestone means HIV diagnoses in pregnancy no longer carry the devastating risk of vertical transmission for Barbadian families, as testing, treatment and wrap-around care now reliably reach every household that needs support. Luisa Cabal, Regional Director of UNAIDS Latin America and the Caribbean, praised the achievement as a product of sustained political commitment, grassroots community leadership, and deliberate investment in integrated, human rights-centered health systems that prioritize gender equity, and commended PAHO for its longstanding regional leadership in advancing these public health goals.

  • Seven out of ten Dominican university students do not eat enough fruit

    Seven out of ten Dominican university students do not eat enough fruit

    Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic — A recently published comprehensive nutritional research initiative led by the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo (INTEC) has exposed widespread gaps in healthy eating behaviors across the country’s higher education student population, with the vast majority failing to meet global dietary recommendations for core nutrient-dense food groups.

    Titled Unisalud, the peer-reviewed study analyzed 663 undergraduate enrollees drawn from five leading Dominican higher education institutions: INTEC, the Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra (PUCMM), the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), the National University Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU), and the Technological University of Santiago (UTESA). The participant cohort had a median age of 20, with 62.3% identifying as female and 37.7% as male, representing a diverse cross-section of the nation’s young university demographic.

    The data paints a stark picture of suboptimal dietary intake: 73.2% of respondents fell short of the World Health Organization’s recommended two daily servings of fruit, while 70.6% similarly failed to consume the advised two daily servings of vegetables. Additional analyses of other high-impact food groups uncovered further concerning trends: nearly 40% (39.7%) of students reported daily consumption of sugary sodas and sweetened beverages, more than half (53.2%) ate one or more servings of red or processed meat every day, and just over half (50.8%) indulged in added-sugar products including ice cream, commercial cookies, and baked pastries at least three times per week. Roughly one-third (31.5%) reported daily intake of high-fat processed spreads such as margarine, butter, or heavy cream.

    Researchers also measured participant adherence to the widely celebrated Mediterranean diet, a evidence-backed eating pattern linked to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic conditions that prioritizes produce, legumes, nuts, fatty fish, and unsaturated plant fats. The results were particularly striking: a mere 3.8% of the student cohort demonstrated high alignment with the Mediterranean diet, 49.2% fell into the intermediate adherence range, and nearly half (46.9%) scored at the lowest possible adherence tier. Corroborating these low scores, supplementary data showed 77.9% of students consumed less than two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil daily, 72.2% ate fewer than three servings of nuts per week, and 71% consumed less than three servings of fish or seafood over a seven-day period.

    Lead researcher Dr. Berniza Calderón, a tenured research professor at INTEC, emphasized that the early adulthood life stage defined by university enrollment is a uniquely critical window for public health intervention, as newly independent young people gain full autonomy over their food choices for the first time, often navigating competing pressures of tight academic schedules, limited budgets, and elevated exam-related stress. The Unisalud research team notes that harmful dietary patterns formed during this late adolescent to early adult phase frequently solidify into lifelong habits that raise long-term risk for preventable chronic illnesses, making university campuses ideal strategic hubs to deliver targeted, accessible preventive support before these behaviors become entrenched.

    Beyond dietary surveys, the Unisalud study incorporated robust objective measurement tools to validate self-reported intake, including skin carotenoid level testing — a widely accepted non-invasive biomarker that correlates directly with long-term fruit and vegetable consumption. These objective tests found significantly higher carotenoid concentrations among male students, respondents who completed the WHO-recommended 150 minutes of moderate weekly physical activity, and students who abstained from alcohol. Conversely, carotenoid levels were markedly lower among regular smokers, and trended steadily downward as participants’ body mass index (BMI) increased. The full research dataset also included granular metrics for physical activity levels and full body composition profiles to contextualize dietary findings.

    Building directly on the study’s actionable insights, Calderón has formally proposed a multi-phase Virtual Classroom for Healthy Habits, a digital-first behavioral intervention designed to embed sustainable health practices within Dominican university campus ecosystems. Unveiled at the recent ConectaTé Salud forum, the pilot program will launch initially as a single-semester test run, followed by recurring semester-long workshops that teach practical, low-cost skills including quick, nutrient-dense meal preparation, navigating affordable healthy food options on a student budget, and interpreting nutritional labeling on packaged goods. The intervention will be paired with a custom mobile health (mHealth) application that features integrated tracking tools for food intake, physical activity, hydration, and sleep, alongside structured educational modules, personalized reminders, and a visual progress dashboard for users to monitor their health goals over time.

    Subsequent expanded phases of the program will introduce gamification elements including reward points, achievement badges, themed health challenges, and tiered progress levels to boost sustained student engagement. Long-term development plans also outline the integration of an AI-powered virtual health coach capable of delivering fully personalized dietary guidance, identifying individual user behavioral patterns, and adapting recommendations to match each student’s unique lifestyle, preferences, and health needs. The research team notes that the concentrated, digitally connected environment of university campuses creates an unprecedented opportunity to roll out population-level preventive interventions at scale, track outcomes across multiple years of student cohorts, and reduce future public health burdens associated with preventable diet-related chronic disease across the Dominican Republic.

  • Portsmouth Bombers FC partners with ACSOM for community Health Fair

    Portsmouth Bombers FC partners with ACSOM for community Health Fair

    A unique cross-sector collaboration between local sports leadership and a prominent medical education institution is set to bring free, accessible health resources to Portsmouth residents in late 2026. The Portsmouth Bombers Football Club, a staple of the area’s local sporting scene, has formalized a partnership with the American Canadian School of Medicine (ACSOM) to stage a full-day Community Health and Wellness Fair on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at Portsmouth’s Benjamin Park, with programming running continuously from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is the latest public-facing initiative under the Bombers FC’s long-running community impact framework, which prioritizes grassroots development, proactive disease prevention outreach, and widespread adoption of sustainable, health-focused daily habits for local residents. Organizers have confirmed the fair will draw a diverse cohort of regional healthcare agencies, licensed wellness practitioners, local non-profit partners, and neighborhood attendees for a curated lineup of interactive activities, informational workshops, and free health screenings designed to demystify preventive care and empower residents to make informed, positive lifestyle decisions. ACSOM’s active participation in the event underscores the untapped value of cross-sector alliances that unite athletic organizations, higher education medical programs, and frontline healthcare providers to fill unmet gaps in local public health support. Leadership from Portsmouth Bombers FC noted that the partnership will not only deepen the interconnectedness of the local sport, education, and healthcare ecosystems, but also expand the traditional community role of local football clubs beyond athletic training and match days to serve as trusted hubs for public welfare resources. The club extended formal appreciation to ACSOM for its hands-on contributions to the fair’s planning and execution, and has issued an open call to all Portsmouth area residents and community members to attend the free event to access the full range of health and wellness programming on offer.